1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to providing geographic information, and more particularly, to a method for determining a mobile communication terminal user's point of interest and an apparatus for providing the geographic information using the method.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, a technique for measuring the position of a mobile communication terminal has come into wide use. The technique can be implemented using a conventional communication system based on a base station or using a global positioning system (GPS).
An apparatus for providing geographic information of a mobile communication terminal according to the conventional art measures the position of a mobile communication terminal periodically or at a user's request and provides geographic information of the measured position to the user using visual information such as an electronic map.
Thus, the user can be provided with a service such as a service for checking a user's current position or the direction in which the user is moving. In particular, position information of the mobile communication terminal may be combined with other information and provided as a location based service (LBS) providing an application required by the user.
There is a need for various services using position information. For example, a service for setting an area where a mobile communication terminal user stays for a long time as a point of interest (POI) and providing the POI at the request of the mobile communication terminal user is required so that the mobile communication terminal user can check his/her past schedule.
To provide such a service according to the conventional art, the position of a mobile communication terminal should be periodically measured or a user should directly request measurement of the position of the mobile communication terminal while staying in a POI. However, when the position of a mobile communication terminal is periodically measured, position measurement is also performed in not only a POI but also other areas, increasing the battery consumption of the mobile communication terminal and causing a user's inconvenience of having to check all geographic information corresponding to the measured position. Once a position measurement command is directly input by a user, the user should input the position measurement command whenever a POI is reached, which is quite a bothersome work.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,774,838 discloses a power saving device and method for a GPS receiver in which, for a case when a GPS receiver is used as a car navigator, movement of a car is detected, and an operation of the GPS receiver is stopped when the car does not move and the GPS receiver is actuated when the car moves, thereby providing navigation information. U.S. Pat. No. 6,774,838 can solve the power consumption problem of a GPS receiver used as a car navigator, but is not suitable for personal use.